Water conditioning apparatus



Sept. 7, 1937. c. HuNeE FoR ET AL 2,092,716

WATER CONDIT IQNING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 31, I935 "nun..."

INVENTORS: Gfiurchzllfiuzgerford and .Brlweflwkersorp Patented Sept. 7, 1937 WATER CONDITIONING APPARATUS Churchill Hunger-lord, Wenonah, and Bruce Dickerson, Glassboro, N. J., assignors to Hunger- .ford and Terry, Inc., Clayton, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application December 31, 1935, Serial No. 56,868

3 Claims. (Cl. 210-24) 5 a bed of granular water conditioning elements grains of the conditioning elements, and as a 5 above the bed of gravel, and having a water result thereof the water is unevenly distributed passage communicating with the casing above and collected by the strainer system, resulting the bed of conditioning elements, and a water in the uneven flow of the water in each direction passage communicating with the casing through and the delivery thereof to the gravel in a series receiving and discharging orifices of a strainer of jets whose action soon so disturbs the gravel 10 system within or below the lower portion of the bed as to cause an almost complete cessation of bed of gravel. the proper functions of the apparatus during the This type of apparatus is used for filtering cycles of operations thereof. water and for softening water. When it is used The object of our invention is to overcome the '15 for filtering purposes the conditioning elements objections aforesaid by the provision of a water are grains of sand or their equivalent, and when conditioning apparatus of novel and advanit is used for softening purposes the conditioning tageous construction having means whereby the elements are grains of zeolite or equivalent exobjectionable shifting'.or displacement of parts change material. V of the gravel bed will be prevented and whereby g In using the apparatus for either filtering or the desired relationship of the bed of gravel to softening purposes, water is caused to flow 'the strainer system and to the bed of granular through the water passages and the casing in water conditioning elements above the same will upwardly and downwardly directions alternately be preserved for the proper functioning of the during the usual well known cycles of operations, apparatus.

' for the purposes of filtering water and for wash- With the foregoing object in view the inven- 25 ing or cleansing the sand when sand forms the tion resides in the novel construction, combinabed of conditioning elements, and for the purtion and arrangement of elements hereinafter poses of softening water and for washing and described and claimed. regenerating the grains of zeolite when they form In the accompanying drawing, illustrating the the bed of conditioning elements. invention, 30 The bed of gravel in the lower portion of the Figure l is a vertical section of a water conoasing is composed of superposed layers of pebditioning apparatus constructed in accordance bles of progressively decreasing pebble size from with the invention.

the bottom to the top of the bed for the usual Figure 2 is a horizontal section thereof, on line 3 purposes of properly distributing and collecting f-f of Fig. i. the water'in accordance with its direction of flow Figure 3 is a horizontal section, on line tt and for the purpose of arresting the downward of Fig. 1. movement of the grains of the bed of granular Figure 4 isa fragmentary top view of one side water conditioning elements as the grains thereof of the screen and associated parts.

40 enter or tend to enter the bed of gravel. Figure 5 is a vertical section through the parts 40 Heretofore, due to various influences, well shown in Fig. i, on line b-bof Fig. it. known in the art, the layers of gravel and par- Figure 6 is a vertical section through the parts ticularly the final or upper layers frequently beshown in Fig. 4, on line t-t of Fig. i. come disturbed or displaced by the flow of water Referring to the drawing, t designates a suit- 5 through the gravel bed, forming mounds in some able casing which may be of any app p Size places. and depressions in other places, so that and construction for its intended purpose. As at length a condition is reached where the finest herein illustrated, this casing comprises a top or uppermost layer of gravel is washed aside in wall i and a bottom wall t connected by an anplaces and the granular conditioning elements nular wall 9.

5 rest upon a coarser layer of gravel. This coarser A pipe it communicates with the upper portion layer in turn becomes disturbed and the process of the casing and afiords a passage through .repeats until a layer of gravel is reached that is which water may be caused to flow into or from not fine enough to restrain the downward movewithin the upper portion of the casing. ment of the grains of the conditioning elements I'he bottom of the casing t contains a base or bed of concrete H which supports a water 55 This invention relates to improvements in that type of water conditioning apparatus which includes a suitable casing having a bed of layers of graded gravel in the lower portion thereof and and then such grains begin to appear in the conditioned water. In addition to this the lower layers of gravel, whose function is to evenly distribute and collect water between .the orifices of the strainer system, become charged with the distributing and collecting system or manifold comprising a centrally arranged main pipe l3 and branch pipes l4 extending laterally from the main pipe and provided with bottom perforations through which water may enter and leave the manifold. One end of the main pipe I 3 is closed and the other end thereof is connected to a water pipe I 2 which extends outwardly from the casing, and with the manifold affords a passage through which water may be caused to flow into or from within the lower portion of the casing.

The pipes of the manifold are embedded in the lower portion of a bed of gravel H: which rests upon the base II, and the pebbles of which are arranged in superposed layers of progressively decreasing pebble size from the bottom to the top of the bed in accordance with the usual practice in this art.

Directly over and in close proximity to the top of the uppermost layer of gravel of the gravel bed I5 is a screen l6 preferably formed of woven wire. This screen covers the entire ravel bed and its interstices are smaller than the pebbles of the top layer of gravel for the purpose of preventing upward displacement of the gravel bed or parts thereof under the influence of the flow of water through the bed. v

The screen It is mounted upon the inwardly extending flange ll of an angle iron annulus I8 which is fitted to the inner wall of the casing and suitably secured thereto preferably by welding; and the screen [6 is also mounted upon spaced stifiening bars I! which are formed of' angleiron and extend between and have their end portions resting upon opposite parts of the flange ll of the annulus l8, as illustrated in the drawing.

Located over the edge portion of the screen l6 which is over the flange l'l away from the bars l9 are clamping plates 20, and located over the parts of the screen I 6 which are over the bars l9 are clamping plates 2|.

Interposed between the bottom of the screen It and the top of the flange l1 and bars l9 are strips of rubber 22, and interposed between the top of the screen is and thebottom of the clamping plates 20 and 2| are strips of rubber 23.

The clamping plates 20 and 2| and the screen I B and the rubber strips 22 and 23 are secured to the underlying annulus flange I1 and stiflening bars l9 by suitable bolts 24, and the bolts 24 at the ends of the bars is also serve as a means The bolts 24 are provided with rubber sleeves 25 which surround the same between the bodies thereof and the portions of the screen through which the bolts extend, for a purpose presentl appearing.

It has been found desirable to make the screen ii of copper wire and tomake the casing 4, annulus l8, bars [9, plates 20 and 2| and bolts 24 of iron or steel, and as copper. and iron or steel difl'er materially in their potentials, the interposed rubber strips 22 and 23 and sleeves 25 serve to insulate the "copper from the iron or steel for the prevention of the decomposition of the parts by the flow of electricity from the iron or steel to the copper which would take place if the dissimilar metals were not insulated from each other by the interposed rubber.

The grains of the bed of water conditionin elements 26 are smaller than the interstices of the screen It to permit such grains to pass freely through the screen to and fromthe' gravel bed for the proper functioning of the apparatus; and, when the bed of elements 26 is at rest within the casing, it is supported normally upon the screen I6 and the underlying bed of gravel I5, and it extends fromthe screen I6 to the level indicated at 21, providing a suitable space or free board between the normal level of the bed 26 and the top of the casing.

The granular water conditioning elements 26 may be sand grains when the apparatus is used to condition water by the filtration thereof, and such elements may be zeolite grains when the apparatus is used to condition water by the softening thereof. In either case the screen l6, while permitting the free upward and downward flow of the water for the various operations hereinbefore referred to, will hold the pebbles of the gravel bed in a packed condition between it and the base II and thereby prevent the pebbles from being disturbed or displaced by the flow of water during any of the aforesaid operations of the apparatus when it is in service.

When the apparatus is used for softening water it is necessary to provide a means for the introduction of brine into the upper portion of the casing for the regeneration of the grains of the water softening exchange material or elements. For this purpose there is arranged above the top of the bed of granular conditioning elements 26 a brine distributing manifold 28 comprising a horizontally extending pipe 29 provided with suitably spaced T outlet fittings 30. The pipe 29 is connected to a brine supplying pipe 3! which extends outwardly from the casing 4 and through which and the manifold 28 brine may be introduced into the casing.

When herein we speak of granular water con ditioning elements we mean to include thereby elements, such as grains of sand which will eifect a water filtering operation, and elements, such as grains of zeolite which will effect a water softening operation.

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a casing having a flange extending inwardly from the inner wall thereof, a bed of gravel in the lower portion of the casing, a bed of granular water conditioning elements in the casing above the bed of gravel therein, spaced stiifening bars connecting opposite parts of said flange, a wire screen on said flange and said bars and extending between said beds, clamping plates ,above said screen and above said flange and said bars, rubber insulating elements interposed between said screen and said flange and said bars, rubber insulating elements interposed between said screen and said plates, bolts securing said plates and said screen and said insulating elements to said flange and said bars, and rubber insulating sleeves surrounding said bolts between them and said screen, said screen having interstices of suflicientsmallness to prevent upward displacement of gravel of the first named bed, and said casing I said bars and said plates and over said flange and the space surrounded thereby, bolts securing said screen and said flange and the end portions of said barsand said plates together, means for securing said screen to said flange between said bars, bolts securing said screen and said bars and said plates together intermediate the and portions 01' said bars and said plates, a bed of gravel within the casing below said screen, and

'a bed of water conditioning elements within the .casing above said screen, said casing having a the same, clamping plates above said flange and extending between the end portions of the first named plates and having their ends spaced from the sides of the first named plates, a continuous screen extending over said bars and said flange 5 and the. space surrounded by the flange and under said plates, bolts securing said screen and said flange and the end portions 01' said bars and the first named plates together, bolts securing the screen andsaid bars and the first named plates 10 together intermediate the end portions of the bars and plates, bolts securing the second named plates and the screen and said flange together, a bed of gravel within the casing below said screen, and a bed of water conditioning elements 15 within the casing "above said screen, said casing having a water passage communication therewith below the first named bed and a water passage communicating second named bed.

BRUCE mcxnnson.

therewith above the f t i CHURCHIIL HUNGERFOBD. 

